Negotiators meet Blair in bid to start talks

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met Wednesday with Quartet envoy Tony Blair in Jerusalem to begin implementation of the terms of a statement issued in late September, officials said. Both sides expressed readiness to engage with the Quartet and to overcome various obstacles in order to eventually resume direct bilateral negotiations "without delay or preconditions," a Quartet official in Jerusalem said. They agreed to come forward with comprehensive proposals on territory and security within three months in order to restart negotiations "leading toward an agreement by the end of 2012," the official said. Envoys reiterated the Quartet's call in September to refrain from "provocative actions" while the mediators agreed to meet with both sides regularly for the next 90 days to review progress, the Quartet official said. But the chances of a breakthrough in the deadlock which has gripped the negotiations for more than a year looked extremely remote with both sides taking very different positions on the conditions for restarting talks. Wednesday's talks at Government House, the UN headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem, was the latest in a series of international initiatives aimed at resuscitating the talks which broke down in 2010. But it was the first time the Quartet envoys met the two sides snce Abbas submitted a request for UN state membership on Sept. 23 that was sharply condemned by both Israel and Washington. Just hours later, the Quartet issued a loosely worded statement proposing that Israel and the Palestinians resume direct peace talks within a month and make a commitment to securing a deal by the end of 2012. But October 23 came and went with no sign that the parties were any closer to resuming talks, with both sides holding a different interpretation of the initiative. Israel says it accepts the Quartet's proposal for an immediate resumption of talks as long as there are no "preconditions" but the PLO says it won't talk until Israel freezes settlements -- a demand it says was written into the proposal. Erekat repeated that position in his meeting with the Quartet envoys, he said in a statement after their discussions. "These are not favors that Israel is doing for us. These are its obligations in accordance with international law and the road map," he added, referring to a document that was intended to pave the way for a peace deal. "Anything short of that will simply put us back on the failed track that we have been on for the last 20 years." Erekat said the Palestinians wanted to know what "concrete measures" the Quartet would take to hold Israel accountable during any future peace talks. "Issuing statements and press releases is not enough as evidenced by Israel's continued intransigence," he said. The Quartet's Sept. 23 proposal was issued with the aim of heading off a diplomatic showdown over the UN membership bid, which is set to be put to a vote in the UN Security Council in coming weeks. Washington and Israel say a Palestinian state can emerge only as the result of a negotiated settlement between the parties, and not through a UN resolution. But Abbas says the bid can run concurrently with peace talks. The United States has vowed to veto the request in a move many fear could spark an anti-US backlash in the Middle East.